Posted on 11/07/2005 5:33:28 PM PST by pissant
The parent of a student at Alabama A&M University said Friday eight female marching band members were blindfolded and beaten with a wooden paddle in an alleged hazing incident directed by band section leaders.
Reggie and Carmen Moore of Fort Wayne, Ind., filed a report Friday with campus police alleging that their daughter was assaulted by upperclassmen.
A number of calls to several university officials and representatives for comment on the allegations were not returned.
Carmen Moore said four girls who play the flute and four who play the clarinet were called about 10 p.m. Monday and told to dress in white T-shirts and black sweat pants before reporting to a section leader's apartment where the alleged hazing took place, Carmen Moore said.
The Moores said their daughter called them Monday night injured and crying.
"Hazing is illegal, and my daughter was assaulted," said Reggie Moore, a police officer in Indiana. "I didn't bring her here to be subjected to that."
Loretta Robinson of Montgomery, another band parent, said Friday her daughter, a flutist, is under a doctor's care because of her injuries.
Robinson said her daughter told her the students were struck several times by at least 10 people. Some of the girls went to the infirmary to be treated for bruises, she said.
Robinson and the Moores said they are unsatisfied with school officials' response.
The band was suspended over the allegations, university officials announced Wednesday. But the suspension was lifted late Thursday, and the band will perform today when the Alabama A&M Bulldogs play Jackson State University.
"I'm very disappointed about the university's response to this situation," Robinson said. "They suspended the band for only one evening. It is a slap in the face to these kids that are hurting."
Some parents met Friday with Dr. Shirley Houser, the university's vice president of student affairs. Houser was not available for comment.
Moore said her daughter wanted to attend a historically African-American university and loved A&M.
"My daughter is telling me that there are about 50 freshmen enduring this hazing every single week," Moore said. "They are scared to talk about it, because they are told they will be punished if they tell."
Carmen Moore said she and her husband brought their van to Huntsville in case they have to move their daughter back home.
"We are not going to let her stay here if the university cannot guarantee her safety," she said.
Are you telling me your a Jethro Tull fan?
At Crest, they're pianists, and we won't discuss what they use for dental floss.
Julie Andrews?
No, you were inferring that. Correctly so.
LOL
And why did the victims cooperate?
LOL
No, Bertha Bigbutt.
Is there something wrong with that?? There are many fine people like us that are Tull fans.
This is Alabama A & M, not the real A & M.
Hmmm. I don't know her, but then again, I don't think I want to!
Hmm. Right here in River City?
LOL, close!
You're better for it.
Cause they wanted to be spanked. Then they found out it hurt! LOL
Uncle!
A pool hall?
River City???????
Starts with P, rhymes with T and that stands for TROUBLE.
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